Chapter 6 #2
"Lily, wait—" He moved toward her, one hand outstretched.
"Don't touch me." The words came out in a snarl. Magic crackled across her skin, green light dancing along her arms. He jumped back before her power could burn him. "You don't get to touch me and tell me I'd be better off without my magic in the same breath."
She could see the moment comprehension finally hit him. The way his face went from concerned to horrified. His hand dropped. "I really didn't mean it like that."
"Are you sure about that?" She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold despite the roaring fire. "You don’t know me, Gray. We’ve worked together for a few days. You gave me a job and a room to stay, and I’m grateful for that, but it doesn’t mean you get to have opinions about whether I should let my coven take my magic from me. "
"If you explained more about what the binding actually does—"
"Why? So you can decide if it's as bad as I say? Do you think I’m lying?" Fresh roses erupted around her feet, their thorns vicious. "I told you I'd rather die. That should have been enough.”
Gray stood slowly, his hands visible and empty. "You're right. I shouldn't have suggested it without understanding the full situation."
"But you did." She turned away from the fire, from him. "And now I know that when it comes down to it, your first instinct is to solve the problem, not protect the person.”
"That’s not fair."
"I get it." She started walking toward the path.
"You're a wolf. You think in terms of pack safety. Threat assessment. And an arbitrary belief that witches can’t be trusted.
" The beach behind her was transforming—thorns and aggressive flowers, her magic working through frustration.
"But I'm not a threat to be managed, Gray. I'm a person running for her life."
She heard him follow, boots crunching on sand. "Lily, wait—"
"I'm done talking about this." She reached the path, paused without turning around.
"I thought maybe Devils Point would be different.
That maybe wolves would understand what it means to have your nature be the thing people want to change.
" She glanced back at him briefly. "But you're just like everyone else. You want me safe and manageable."
"That's not true."
"Then what do you want?" She faced him fully. "Because from where I'm standing, you heard dangerous witch and immediately started looking for ways to make me less dangerous."
He opened his mouth. Closed it. She could see him processing, trying to find the right words. But the fact that he had to search for them told her everything she needed to know.
"That's what I thought." She turned back to the path. "I'll finish out the week since you hired me for a trial. But I think we both know this isn't going to be a good fit."
"Lily wait."
"Goodnight, Gray." She didn't look back. "Thanks for the honest reaction. At least now I know where we stand."
He called after her again, but she kept walking. Her feet carried her up the path toward the distillery, toward the apartment that suddenly felt a lot less like sanctuary and a lot more like a temporary holding cell.
She'd been here before. The moment when someone who'd seemed different proved they were exactly like everyone else. At least this time she'd found out after a few days instead of months. Not that she cared.
Except her chest felt tight and her hands were shaking and she couldn't decide if she was more angry or disappointed.
The distillery glowed ahead, warm light spilling from the windows where tourists laughed over beer they had no idea was touched by magic. She climbed the exterior stairs, fumbled with her keys, and let herself into the building.
Her room waited. Small, temporary, not really hers.
She locked the door and leaned against it, finally letting out a long breath.
Around her feet, small flowers bloomed and died in rapid succession.
Bloom, wither, bloom, wither. Her magic couldn't settle anymore than she could.
It was responding to emotions she was trying very hard not to examine too closely.
You shouldn't have told him anything.
The thought came sharp and clear. She'd been stupid to think she could trust Gray with even part of the truth. She'd given him the bare minimum, that the coven wanted to bind her magic and that she'd refused...
She couldn't tell him more.
The coven was still hunting her. Every day she stayed in one place increased the chances they'd find her. And if Gray's first instinct was to solve problems by eliminating magical threats, what would he do when they showed up?
You don't know him. A few days. That's all it's been.
Her grandmother's pendant pressed against her chest, warm through her shirt. Her voice echoed in Lily’s memory.
Trust your instincts, little flower. Your magic knows who's safe and who isn't.
Except her magic had been pulling toward Gray since the moment she'd met him. Responding to him like it recognized something. Something mate-like that terrified her almost as much as the coven did. Because if her magic was recognizing the bond, and Gray thought she'd be better off powerless—
She couldn't finish that thought.
Lily moved to her duffel bag, running her fingers over the worn canvas. She should pack and leave before this got more complicated. But exhaustion pulled at her bones, and her car was still in his garage, and—
Did she even still have a job?
The thought made her go still. She'd just told the man who'd hired her that "this isn't going to work.
" She'd walked away from him on the beach, left him surrounded by the powerful evidence of her anger.
What if he decided a witch who couldn't control her magic around him was too much liability? What if he told her in the morning that he’d changed his mind and the trial period was over, that she needed to leave?
She'd arrived with nothing and she still had no money. Hell, she hadn’t even made it through a week without screwing up. If he fired her, she couldn't afford to leave.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
She should have kept her mouth shut. Should have smiled and nodded and let him think whatever he wanted while she saved up money to disappear properly.
Instead, she'd let herself get emotional, let her magic explode all over the beach, and probably convinced him she was exactly the kind of danger the pack couldn’t afford.
Outside, she heard footsteps on the stairs. Heavy boots climbing slowly. They paused outside her door.
She held her breath.
Finally, the footsteps continued down the hall. A door opened and closed. The shower turned on.
Lily sank onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. The harvest moon painted silver squares across her floor through the window. Her magic responded to it, pulling and surging. In a few days it would be full. Her power would peak.
What then?
The shower shut off. Footsteps moved around the hallway. She held her breath again, waiting. Would he knock on her door? Try to continue the conversation? Tell her to pack and get out?
Once more the footsteps paused.
Her heart hammered.
After a moment, he walked away and all she heard was a distant door opening and then closing.
Lily let out a shaky breath and rolled onto her side, pulling her grandmother's pendant from beneath her shirt. The silver was warm against her palm, familiar and grounding.
She needed a plan. If Gray asked her to go in the morning, she'd need to leave immediately.
Maybe head south, try to lose herself in a city where one witch's magical signature would be harder to track.
Portland, maybe. Or north to Seattle. Somewhere with enough ambient magic that hers wouldn't stand out.
But if he didn't fire her, she had to find a way to lock down her emotions.
If you can work with him after this.
That was the real question. Could she stand beside him in the brewhouse, feeling his wolf's attention on her, knowing he thought she'd be better off without her magic? Could she make small talk about grain and hops while pretending nothing had changed?
She'd done harder things. She'd smiled through coven meetings where they discussed her binding like it was an inevitability. She'd worked alongside Willow for months after learning her cousin had been the one to suggest the ritual in the first place.
She could work with Gray for a week. Keep her head down, her magic locked tight, and her secrets to herself.
No more confessions. No more hoping someone might understand. And no more touching.
Just work, save money, and leave before the situation got any more complicated.
The moon climbed higher outside her window. Small flowers bloomed in the carpet around her bed, their petals browning at the edges before they'd fully opened. Lily watched them die and bloom again. Her magic couldn't settle any more than she could.
A soft thump at the window made her sit up.
A black cat sat perched on her windowsill, watching her with luminous green eyes.
Lily stared back. "How in the world did you get up here?"
Of course the cat didn't answer. It jumped down and crossed the room, then leaped onto her bed and began kneading the blanket beside her hip.
"You must have a death wish," she whispered. "You know that, right? This is an island full of wolves. They probably hunt your kind.”
The cat's purr rumbled louder.
"I'm serious. You can't stay here." She pointed at the window. "Out. Go find somewhere safe. Somewhere without dozens of territorial shifters who'd love nothing more than to—"
The cat flopped onto its side and stretched, taking up as much of her bed as physically possible for a creature its size.
"Are you even listening to me?"
Green eyes blinked once, slow and deliberate. Obviously not.
"Fine." She reached down despite herself, fingers sinking into warm black fur. “I guess you could stay with me for one night. But you have to leave in the morning. Before anyone sees you and decides you’d make a good chew toy."
The cat's purr grew stronger. Almost as if it had heard what she said and chose not to care.
She didn't remember falling asleep. But when she woke once in the middle of the night, the cat was curled against her side, warm and steady.
At least something on this island wasn’t afraid of her.
Tomorrow she'd face Gray at work and pretend her chest didn't hurt.
But tonight, she let herself feel the disappointment. The sharp sting of being right—that no one could handle all of her, magic included.